


to rest a weary head

by distractionpie



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Kidnapping, M/M, Morning After, Remix, Sex Pollen, Vacation, not kidnapping, x + 1 format
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:01:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26643427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/distractionpie/pseuds/distractionpie
Summary: Three mornings after Obi-Wan shares with with Hondo Ohnaka, and onemorning after.
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Hondo Ohnaka
Comments: 4
Kudos: 65
Collections: Remix Revival 2020





	to rest a weary head

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yujacheong](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yujacheong/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Handle with Care](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24634840) by [yujacheong](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yujacheong/pseuds/yujacheong). 



Obi-Wan Kenobi woke up.

The first thing he felt was hard metal beneath him, which meant this wasn’t anywhere he’d expect to be sleeping.

It was hardly the first time he’d woken up somewhere unexpected. It was a reality of the life of a jedi, and had only grown more common since the war.

He reached out with the force, the lack of any suppression already a reassuring sign, sensing one lifeform with, curiously, no hint of malicious intent.

Warily, he opened his eyes.

“Good morning!”

Ah. Hondo Ohnaka.

That would explain a great deal.

“Is it?” he asked, shifting to a seated position.

“But of course, for you are assisting me in conducting some very profitable business,” Hondo replied

Obi-Wan sighed. But it was hardly a surprise. “The Jedi are not in the habit of paying ransoms,” he reminded Hondo.

“I am hurt, my dear friend, that you would try to deceive me so,” Hondo said. “Especially when we both know they have been willing to pay for you before.”

“The Republic was willing to pay,” Obi-Wan corrected, recalling the unfortunate incident which really ought to have deterred Hondo from this attempt. “Because you had Count Dooku. I am afraid I do not hold quite the same value in their eyes.”

“Oh, unfortunately I do not have time for the slow negotiations of the Republic,” Hondo said. “Your stay on my ship is to be a short one, this time.”

“So it’s to be the Separatists?” Last he’d heard, the Trade Federation were even less welcoming of pirates than the Republic, but perhaps they’d shifted their attitude. And he could hardly expected Hondo to turn down their offer give the size of the price on Obi-Wan’s head.

“Bah,” Hondo scoffed, to his surprise. “Your Separatists do not respect the fine art of piracy. No, today you are assisting me with a private contract, very discreet, a good friend. That is why I sought you out, Hondo Ohnaka and does only the best work for his good friends.”

Obi-Wan raised his eyebrows. He had no dearth of personal enemies, the kind of work he’d done as a Jedi and his efforts to avoid killing those with whom he came in conflict encouraged that sort of thing, but it took a bold individual to move against him now he was so deeply entangled with the Republic military. “Well then, I must say, I am eager to know the identity of this friend of yours, and what grand price they have offered to supersede the bounty offered by the Separatists.” There were very few private individuals with access to such generous funds and none of them had on obvious reason to target Obi-Wan or seemed likely to have employed Hondo of all people to do so.

“You don’t remember? Interesting… I shall have to report this side-effect to my friend,” Hondo said. “Well, for you, I will repeat myself.”

“How kind.”

“My friend, she is a… researcher. Does very interesting work. She has recent developed a sedative, very fast acting, very discreet. Very expensive, but it will be the best on the market, she assures me.”

Experimental fast acting sedatives. Lovely.

“And so she has employed me to help with some tests, and of course, who better to prove it is the best of the best, than to try it out on a Jedi!” Hondo explained. “She is going to be very pleased with this result.”

“Well, you must congratulate your friend on the efficacy of her work,” Obi-Wan conceded. Having encountered the sedative once, it should be easier to detect and filter it out of his bloodstream in the future, and if he could get back to a medic fast enough and the compound lingered long enough in his system, possibly enable the healers to begin synthesising a more general countermeasure. “Not even a hangover.

“As always, we make an excellent team.” Hondo grinned. “Alas, I will not be able to ransom you back to the Jedi or the Republic on this occasion, I have a prior engagement. However for providing such good news to my friend, I offer you any drop-off point along our route. I hear the Numidian system is excellent at this time of year.”

* * *

Obi-Wan Kenobi woke up.

He was not alone.

Stirring from an ungainly sprawl of tangled blankets in the spare bunk he usually used for storage was Hondo Ohnaka.

Cody had been incredibly put out when Obi-Wan had cleared the space intended for a second officer and offered a few tersely polite words about pirates and the brig, but Obi-Wan had insisted.

While he understood Cody’s concerns, it was hardly advisable to bring a pirate aboard a republic cruiser in any capacity other than prisoner and fully expected Hondo to make at least a token attempt to take him along as a hostage upon his departure, but it would have been distinctly un-Jedi like to leave him to his fate, especially since the Separatist assassin seemed to have concluded they were friends and had picked Hondo rather than a passing civilian to add a personal touch to baiting Obi-Wan, and rescuing somebody only to place them in a holding cell had hardly seemed civilised.

“Good morning,” Obi-Wan greeted. “How are you?”

Given the state Hondo had appeared in at the bar the separatists had attacked them in, he was expecting the weequay to be rather worse for wear, so it was quite a surprise when Hondo beamed.

“It is a proud, proud day,” he said, “Never did I expect to be kidnapped by a Jedi. But truly I have taught you well.”

“I haven’t kidnapped you Hondo,” Obi-Wan sighed. “You’re free to leave at any time—”

“In hyperspace? You tell a lie my friend. And where am I to go without my ship? Oh no, this is devious plan you have concocted, most admirable.”

Obi-Wan opened his mouth, and then paused. He’d planned to direct Hondo to the main refectory for breakfast rations while he went over the messages he’d undoubtedly received while sleeping, but the small risk that some of his troopers might elect to take initiative regarding a pirate wandering the ship would be significantly compounded if they were given the excuse of Hondo announcing he was a prisoner.

“You’ve got me,” he said deadpan. “You’re my captive. You’re going to have to stay here until your crew can barter you back.” Hondo usually ran with at least a semi-competent bunch. A Jedi didn’t accept ransoms, but if they happened to have access to supplies they were willing to gift then he wouldn’t say no, and the façade of an exchange would probably be more flattering to Hondo than being rescued and returned to them. It wouldn’t do to undermine his captaincy, especially not when who knew what power plays might be made in his absence.

Hondo nodded wisely. “I would expect nothing less. Now have you sent the ransom message yet. Because you are new at this and we do not want an unfortunately misunderstanding. First of all, nobody will believe you are acting in good faith if you ask for credits. Rare goods, that is the proper way for a modern pirate to request ransom—”

* * *

Obi-Wan Kenobi woke up.

The realisation that there was a plush, fresh-scented pillow beneath his head was far more perturbing than any of the times he’d awoken on the floor of a cell. That the pillow lay on a plush mattress with fresh sheets in a truly opulent room only exacerbated the strangeness.

He closes his eyes, slipping into a light meditation as he attempted to recall how he’d found himself sleeping in such a location.

Shore leave. It had been the beginning of a full week of rest, and a well-earned one at that, which had put everyone disembarking The Negotiator in a celebratory mood. A small relief: Obi-Wan was fairly certain that the source of his faint headache was nothing more nefarious than allowing himself to be coaxed into drinking with his troops and then becoming so distracted by the conversation he’d grown lax in filtering the alcohol from his bloodstream. He’d been clear headed enough to know he oughtn’t linger too long with his men, they deserved time to unwind without having to restrict their conduct to what they deemed appropriate in the company of a General, but apparently impaired enough to be open to distraction on his way back to the temple. He’d stopped for another drink, he remembered vaguely, wanting a little more time to transition between the party atmosphere of his men and the tranquillity of the temple, and then—

Hondo entered the room.

In an instant, Obi-Wan’s headache shifted from minor to major.

“Ah, my friend!” Hondo sounded far too cheerful for a man Obi-Wan was entirely sure ought to be just as hungover as him going by his hazy recollections of the night before.”

There was a sealed bottle of water on the nightstand. No doubt, Hondo probably knew multiple ways to bypass such a seal without it being obvious, but he already had Obi-Wan and if the pirate wanted to drug him he was surely smart enough to do it before Obi-Wan had awoken to potentially cause trouble. The hydration eased the pounding in his head a little, but the main source continued to grin at him.

Obi-Wan sighed. “Am I to assume you’ve already supplied the temple with your ransom demands? Rare goods, unless the fashions change so fast?”

“Ransom demands? No! Perhaps the Jedi cannot hold their liquor as well as I have heard,” Hondo mused. “This was a social visit, not a kidnapping.”

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow. “A social visit?” It was true that he’d started drinking with Hondo voluntarily enough, but he was fairly sure he would have remembered deciding to go to a hotel room with the pirate.

“Of course!” Hondo sounded quite genuine. “I am merely taking care of my good friend, who cannot hold his liquor like a pirate, I would never kidnap you whilst you are on shore leave.”

“How generous of you.”

“Hondo Ohnaka is a gentleman pirate, remember that!” Hondo said. “Anyway, you have far more value as a hostage when they need you for fighting.”

“How foolish of me to forget,” Obi-Wan agreed.

“Your order will be very grateful to me, I think,” he said. “It is important to unwind and in your temple your duties will find you. You told me so yourself.”

He had, hadn’t he? It was a reality of being a councillor, shore leave meant a break from the war, but that time was to spent catching up on the many responsibilities a Jedi ought to shoulder which too often fell by the wayside in the face of the more immediate issue of combat. All so very important but not at all helpful in battling the fatigue of months on the front. “You are correct on both counts,” he conceded. “An evening away has been a privilege, but I am needed at the temple, even if the Republic doesn’t see the same value in that work as it does in fighting.”

“Oh no,” Hondo said. “An evening? That will not do at all. No, this is not a kidnapping but I’m afraid that this building is under security lockdown. You won’t be able to return until it has been cleared, unfortunate business.”

“A security lockdown?”

“There have been reports of pirates.”

Oh. Of course.

Obi-Wan leaned back against the pillow. It really was very plush and his head was incredibly sore.

“Well, if there’s pirates…” he said. “I suppose it can’t be helped.”

* * *

Obi-Wan Kenobi woke up.

He’d woken up on the floor of cargo bays before. Minimal living and frequent transit are simply part of the duties of a Jedi and they often combined.

Obi-Wan has not woken up on the floor of a cargo bay naked before.

He aches in a variety of ways, but none of them are damning given that he was growing far too old to sleep on durasteel without at least folding his robes into some sort of cushion for his neck.

The presence of an equally naked Hondo Ohnaka beside him was… perhaps not as damning as it ought to have felt.

Though really, he was going to have to get the details of Hondo’s Felucian botanist acquaintance. Such a potent substance could hardly go unregulated. Obi-Wan wasn’t even sure how much time had passed, they’d been in such a frenzy of—

Well, it couldn’t have been too long, since the door was still holding, which was in many ways a relief, but meant they were just as stuck as when they’d begun.

Recalling his last efforts before the haze of pollen had set in, Obi-Wan made his way over to the comm unit. There was an outgoing call showing as still connected.

“This is General Kenobi,” he tried.

“CT-7298 relieving, sir!”

Not a number he recognised. He made a point of learning the names and designations of his own men and tried to extend that courtesy to Anakin’s since the 212th and 501st worked together so frequently, but it was a tragic truth of the war that the rotation of soldiers on the front was often too fast to keep on top of.

“I hope, since this call connected, my request for assistance got through.”

“General Skywalker is on his way, sir,” CT-7298 reported. “With a strike team, recovery support, and medics.”

“Well,” Obi-Wan said, rolling his shoulders. He didn’t feel harmed, beyond the stiffness of exertion followed by an ill-considered resting place, but if he knew medics there was no doubt that they’d want samples of everything they could get their needles into in order to analyse the work of Hondo’s Felucian botanist friends. “I suppose we’d better prepare for a rescue then. If I brief you on the situation, will you be able to make contact with General Skywalker so he knows what he’s getting into?”

“I think he knows, sir,” said the trooper, in a rather strangled tone.

“The comm channel has been connected this whole time hasn’t it?” Obi-Wan processed. “And GAR regulations would demand that the entire call be monitored.”

“Yessir,” the trooper confirmed. “But… ah, it was audio only, sir?”

Well, thank the force for small mercies.

Somehow Obi-Wan suspected that Anakin wouldn’t be seeing the bright-side of the situation.

But Obi-Wan’s first priority would have to be getting Hondo awake and into clothes. Otherwise Anakin truly would be seeing some impressive sights.


End file.
